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Gaston Reuter
Gaston Édouard Claude Reuter is a pure-blood wizard from Luxembourg who currently serves as the Professor of Magical Theory and Assistant Librarian at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. Before his employment at the school, Reuter served in numerous roles including a director of Magical Law Enforcement, a writer, an editor, a government librarian, and a politician. He entered Hogwarts as a school librarian in February 2023 before being promoted to the role of Professor later the same month. Biography WIP Early Life Career History Hogwarts Faculty Personal Traits Personality His personality is heavily defined by his reputation for being restrained, formal, and aloof. As much as he dislikes it, his upper-class background is evident and he exudes the air of an eccentric gentleman scholar. He adheres to an outdated system of etiquette including clicking his heels and bowing his head when meeting somebody for the first time. His exceptional emotional composure is sometimes taken as pompousness making him stand out exceptionally compared to the generally more casual atmosphere at Hogwarts. His manner of speech is also formal and unnecessarily verbose. Despite this impression, Reuter is also highly intelligent, tolerant, charitable, kind, and sensitive, these qualities being especially evident in his approach towards students. He often goes out of his way to help students with queries and problems and actively keeps his eyes open for any problems which might affect the happiness of the school. Although he seldom demonstrates it publically, he has genuine concern for almost all students and feels greatly angered when even the most misbehaved ones experience difficulties and injustices. He strongly believes in treating students as adults unless he has reason to do otherwise and his teaching style emphasizes encouraging the self-discipline of the student rather than the overbearing authority of the Professor. His composure does not prevent him from speaking his mind. After the Ministry took over the school under Chancellor Dorchester in 2023, he openly confronted both staff and students who supported the regime. He considers cowardice, insensitivity, and unthinking respect for authority to be extremely detestable qualities. Reuter is extremely private, seldom open to discussing details of his personal life and showing a strong distrust of journalists. Appearance Reuter is a tall man with an average build and neatly parted brown hair. He has blue-grey eyes and normally has light stubble on his face. Although he looks slightly younger than his age, his appearance gives the impression of a once attractive man who no longer sees any reason to maintain his youthfulness or fashionableness. However, he always maintains a neat appearance and takes care to ensure that his hair and clothes are well presented. The Professor has a smart but eccentric sense of style. Most of his outfits take the form of impeccably tailored three-piece suits made from tweed or thick wool. He also has an extensive number of cloaks and overcoats. Attached to his coat or waistcoat, he always carries a heavy pocket watch. These clothes give him the appearance of an eccentric muggle aristocrat and he manages to merge into this kind of muggle environment, staying at expensive hotels when he needs to visit London and other cities. Reuter wears pince-nez spectacles which have light gold frames. These seems to be impractical and using them forces his to have a severe expression, having a furrowed brow most of the time. Attitudes • Pureblood 'Cringe': Reuter often demonstrates a dislike for the privileges of his pureblood background. He actively criticises wizards who promote the importance of blood heritage and tends to cringe when asked about the matter. His grandfather, despite demonstrating no personal prejudice towards muggles or muggle-borns, thought that maintaining pureblood family ties was important for the privacy and safety of the magical world. His father argued this view came from him unintentionally adopting the bias that muggles were somehow untrustworthy, resulting in arguments between the father and son. For this reason, Reuter becomes noticeably uncomfortable when the question of blood is raised. • Magical 'Conservatism': Reuter believes that magic should be used responsibly and only for productive purposes. He shows disapproval of using jinxes to retaliate or respond to disagreements, considering this behaviour to be "beneath the dignity of the magical world" and only justified for strictly defensive reasons. His broader view is that it is equivalent to muggles using physical violence or practical jokes and he shows little tolerance for this behaviour by staff or students. In his view, students should be taught to use magical in a restrained and enterprising way which helps to improve the lives of themselves and others. Skills & Abilities • Transfiguration: Having served previously as Professor of Transfigurstion at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, it is evident that he has advanced skill in this subject. He is able to perform complex transfigurations nonverbally with ease and he is particularly skilled at changing inanimate objects into conscious living creatures. His advanced understanding of Magical Theory likely aids him in successfully practicing the precise nature of transfiguration. Interestingly, however, Reuter is not a registered animagus and it is unknown whether he has ever taken on an animal form. • Magical Theory: His current teaching subject and one of his greatest passions, Reuter has an advanced appreciation of extremely subtle questions of magical practice, particularly the limits of magic and the fundamental principles of spell casting in charms and transfigurstion. He is especialy interested in the metaphysical aspects of the subject, focusing on the fundamental nature of magic and the ability of the wizard to channel it into practical use through the careful synthesis of academic skill, psychological state, and situational factors. • Defensive Abilities: Reuter spent his early years working in Magical Law Enforcement where he developed excellent defensive duelling skills. This ability often take his opponents by surprise. Many do not expect a middle-aged "poncey"-looking man with poor eyesight to be able to nonverbally cast advanced defensive spells without any difficulty. Unknown to many, he is surprisingly physically fit and professionally trained in muggle physical defensive. • Flying: In his youth, he was a skilled flyer and served for two years as a chaser during his school years at Beauxbatons. He is the nephew of Loïc Juncker, former chaser for the Bigonville Bombers, who taught him to fly during his summers. He no longer flies due to deteriorating eyesight and a middle aged desire for a more comfortable and less energetic life. • Languages: Reuter is fluent in English which he learned during his time in Norway. He is also fluent in his native languages of French and Luxembourgish and he often slips into these languages accidentally. He also learned German as a boy as it was the primary written language of his parents generation. However, his ability to speak it has deteriorated due to his living abroad and he now only has a limited understanding of the language. Possessions • Wand: Rosewood, Dragon Heartwood, 7.25 inches, unyeilding. His wand has an elegant design produced from smooth, darkened rosewood. It is also delicately carved and decorated with gold leaf and a large ruby. The wand is indicative of the family's wealthy position and it was most likely custom made based on a more standard design. Although it is unusually short in length, Reuter does not conform to the tendency for shorter wands to be indicative of stunted moral character. His father jokes that it probably chose him more to match his suits than his personality. • Pocket Watch:'' Class Prize for Transfiguration''. This unusual watch is one of his most valued possessions and was given to him informally by his Professor of Transfiguration upon graduation from Beauxbatons. Whether or not it is a transfigured object is not known and this question is seldom asked. • Signet Ring:'' Inherited family heirloom''. The Reuter family has traditionally worn signet rings as a symbol of their history and position and the Professor's has been inherited from his grandfather. The ring is made from silver with the family crest encased in an unusual amber cover. As he is left-handed, it is worn on his less dominant right hand for the sake of convenience. • Magical Memos & Owl:'' Preferred methods of communication''. Reuter seldom uses an Owl to carry messages. Instead, he has a seemingly unlimited supply of memos similar to the kind used for interdepartmental communication at the British Ministry of Magic. Reuter's memos are soft blue and white with a distinctive red and gold seal featuring a lion. The Professor does own a small pygmy Owl called Esme who carries more long-distance letters if needed. Category:Professors Category:Staff Category:Hogwarts Category:Librarian